Categories

Archives

Speaking at D61+ Live in Melbourne, Australia's Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Craig Laundy said that in order to achieve a digital ID, the government needs to turn to organisations like the CSIRO and its innovation arm, Data61. Laundy explained on Wednesday the digital identification piece would see the government harness the power of big data and loosen some of the reigns the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) currently has, with information on tax and GST paid by an organisation received automatically by the tax office, negating the need for SMEs to send such information, sometimes on multiple occasions. Currently, individuals in Australia can interact with 10 government services through its myGov online portal , which sees citizens issued a unique identifier that connects their profiles across the ATO, Centrelink, Australian JobSearch, My Health Record, My Aged Care, Child Support, Department of Veterans' Affairs, National Disability Insurance Scheme, and the Victorian Housing Register Application. The end-goal is to have all government agencies on myGov, which will result in the individual being known to every government entity via the one ID that is already verified. Laundy expects this to be replicated in the business world via business.gov.au. "What we are working hard on delivering is if you are a business, you have a business identifier, and when you come on to business.gov.au you are uniquely identified," he explained. "Why is that important? Because it allows us to have a two-way conversation with you, whereas business.gov.au is currently a generic website ... the minute we solve the identification piece, we can have a chat with you one-on-one." According to Laundy, the solution for government is obvious, but said that while he's constantly hearing politicians talk about cutting red tape, unfortunately it is a slow process to do so.